Brad Belk, executive director of the Joplin (Mo.) Museum Complex, was given the 2006 Governor’s Humanities Community Heritage Award.

According to a news release:

This award recognizes a special contribution to a community’s understanding of its heritage.

Here’s a rundown of Belk’s accomplishments. In addition to helping a prominent Route 66 town, he’s also served on Route 66 Association of Missouri board.

Canadian musician Melissa McClelland embarked on a Route 66 trip, and one segment of a six-part video podcast documenting that journey will be posted each week online.

Based on what I saw with Part 1, it’s going to be an excellent series. It’s well-shot and edited, roadies will recognize several of the people and sights of the Mother Road, and the music is lovely (particularly her solo acoustic performance of a “Skyway Bridge” on the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge near St. Louis).

The first segment of the video podcast is here (Internet Explorer 6 is recommended).

CBC Radio3 had this to say about her podcasts:

Over the course of nine days, McClelland and her crew stopped in all kinds of places, where McClelland checked out the sights and interviewed the locals, including quirky characters like Stewart who has an ostrich farm, a petrified wood museum and giant paper mache dinosaurs on his property; and Angel, who’s known as the “Mayor of Route 66″ for his efforts in getting the route recognized for its historical signficance.

“He’s an 80 year-old man and after the interview, he hopped on his bicycle and rode away,” she says, on her cell phone from a New York tour stop. “He was just great - so much energy and so much life.” […]

“We just found really beautiful, amazing spots, and we’d get out of the van and we’d film and record me doing one of my songs acoustically and completely live,” she says. “So I’d have a little tiny mike attached to my bra strap and I’d just play my guitar and sing the song.”

In addition to releasing the footage as a podcast, McClelland is using it in a new video for her song, “Passenger 24″. Her management is also approaching broadcasters, hoping the podcast series can be aired as a one-hour television documentary.

We didn’t eat Thanksgiving at home this year. My wife and I both were busy with other things, so we decided to dispense with the labor of cooking a traditional Thanksgiving meal and eat out.

I had recalled the last time we had eaten at the Golden Saddle BBQ & Steakhouse at 6618 E. Admiral Place in Tulsa, on an old alignment of Route 66, that it had posted it would be open for Thanksgiving. So we headed there, thinking we would get its usual excellent buffet.

To our surprise, we found that the Golden Saddle was serving free Thanksgiving meals. The highly organized waitstaff whisked us to a table and within five minutes served us a plateful of turkey, cranberry sauce, real mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing and gravy, corn, bed and butter, all the water or sweet tea we could drink and a slice of pumpkin pie — all gratis and all very good.

It turns out the Golden Saddle wasn’t the only area restaurant on Route 66 serving free meals. The new owners of Al’s Route 66 Cafe in Sapulpa were dishing up gratis turkey dinners. Tally’s Good Food Cafe, at the corner of 11th and Yale, had been doing annually for the past 19 years.

It’s also interesting to note that the owners of Tally’s and the Golden Saddle originally hail from Middle Eastern countries (both now are naturalized U.S. citizens). Both say they do the free Thanksgiving feed as a thank-you to America. Sometimes foreigners appreciate the United States more than its natural-born citizens.

One of the highlights of our meal was a middle-aged black man who hooked up a laptop loaded with karaoke Mp3s to a sound system and sang. In a rich voice that obviously was well-versed in blues and soul, he sang songs by Norah Jones, the Commodores, Dobie Gray and even Garth Brooks in his own style. Regrettably, I forgot to ask about the gentleman’s name.

Most of those dining at Golden Saddle didn’t seem to be beggar types, but those who were struggling financially and were appreciative of a good holiday meal. I saw one elderly man next to our table quietly thank the woman who served his plate of food. I then saw him bow his head, close his eyes and fold his hands in silent prayer. After a few moments, he raised his head, crossed himself and dug in.

It was a great holiday. In appreciation, we discreetly left a sizable tip to our server and another to the singer. The generosity of Route 66 businesses continues to astound me.

Ronn Perea once booked comedy shows along Route 66 in New Mexico, including Albuquerque, during the 1980s and ’90s.

Now Perea has written a historical novel about those times, titled “Smiles, Giggles & Laughs,” reports the Albuquerque Tribune.

Incidents in the novel - such as the time Greco and a Camaro full of comics get caught in a blizzard driving back from a Christmas Eve show in Tucumcari - are inspired by things that happened.

This second-chapter exchange takes place after the comics pile out of the Camaro to push the car out of an I-40 snowdrift while Greco remains at the wheel.

Jake shouted back at me in ominous tones, “Ronn! Put on the emergency brake. Get off the gas pedal. Don’t move the car.”

My foot complied in pushing down the emergency brake. “What’s wrong?”

The ventriloquist spoke calmly. “You’re six inches from sliding into a ten-foot drop.”

The author has his own Web page about the book here. You can also read excepts of the book here and here.

The historic Big Chief Dakota Grill is located at 17352 Old Manchester Road in Wildwood, Mo., which is on a 1926-1932 alignment of Route 66 in the St. Louis region.

The restaurant/tavern closed about three years ago, but will reopen as a B. Donovan’s Steakhouse Grill next month, according to West Newsmagazine.

The article also has some tidbits about the site’s colorful history:

The restaurant originally included a hotel featuring 62 individual cabins, each with their own garage. Big Chief was a family destination and a place to eat a good meal and have a good time. One could buy a 75-cent steak dinner, a 40-cent special plate lunch, and 5-cent sandwiches and spend the night for rates starting at $1.50.

The front porte-cochere served as a Conoco gas station and groceries also were sold. The property also featured a large playground for children and in the evenings, dining room tables were pushed aside to allow for dancing. Authentic advertisements boasted having both hot and cold running water shower baths in the cabins.

The Big Chief is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Brehm Communications has announced it will launch a new lifestyle magazine, Desert Currents, in February, the Mojave Daily News reported.

From the Havasupai people and their rich history to remarkable stops along Route 66, the best hamburger in the Tri-state to a new take on a traditional holiday pie recipe, massage therapists to heart health, the magazine will offer a variety of interesting and informative articles designed to enhance life in the Mojave Desert and surrounding areas.

The full-color, glossy magazine will be distributed monthly in the Mohave Valley Daily News, as well as through direct mail and numerous rack locations.

And for those businesses along Route 66 in western Arizona and California, the magazine is offering this enticement:

News West is offering introductory ad rates for those who sign up before Dec. 15. For more information about advertising with Desert Currents, contact sales consultant Annette Wegmann at 702-298-6090 or sales@desertcurrents.net.

Big news out of Albuquerque: The city has chosen a developer to renovate the historic De Anza Motor Lodge on Route 66 (shown above in a vintage postcard), according to the New Mexico Business Weekly.

The city purchased the motel three years ago for $1 million in the hopes a developer would come in and restore it. De Anza LLC is headed by Matthew Terry who plans to downsize the motel to around 50 to 60 rooms, but preserve its historic basement murals and terrazzo tile floors. It is not known how much it will cost to restore the motel to make it an upscale destination.  […]

City Council President Martin Heinrich is hopeful the De Anza will become the city’s first upscale Route 66 motor lodge with a link to the past. There is a niche market for travelers who stay at these upscale lodges along Rt. 66.

Matthew Terry also owns the historic Aztec Motel in Albuquerque. I’ve spoken with him on the phone, and he says he’s a committed preservationist to Route 66 history.

Maybe this is a sign that we can get some movement for El Vado Motel and take it off Richard Gonzales’ hands.

The former Illinois State Police District 6 headquarters, a unique gun-shaped building built in 1941 on Route 66 near Pontiac, likely will receive a designation on the National Register of Historic Places, reports the Bloomington Pantagraph.

But the future of the building is uncertain. It sits unused now, as it has plumbing and roof problems. But there remains some interest in the property, and it may be sold soon.

The building is listed on the Illinois Route 66 Association’s Hall of Fame.

Geoff Ladd of the Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of Logan County was kind enough to send some photos of The Mill, a long-neglected restaurant and tavern on Route 66 in Lincoln, Ill., that eventually will be shored up.

Here’s what The Mill looked like in 1946:

Here’s what is looks like now:

Here’s an artist’s rendering of what it will look like once it’s fixed up. The bureau plans to convert it into a tourism center.

The bureau has launched a Web site, called SavetheMill.org. We’ll keep you posted on the happenings with the landmark.

Here is Rascal Flatts‘ current version of “Life is a Highway,” featured in the “Cars” movie.

Here is Tom Cochran’s original, which was a Top 10 hit in 1992:

Which do you like better?